Wednesday, May 30, 2012

You can't find this on google, but the print and pdf version of www.sdtimes.com software development times May 2012

They don't have a web version but here are the highlights for me:

BZ research found 57% of organizations they survyed were doing mobile apps

63.9% Android Phone
63.6% Iphone
62.9% Ipad
50.8% Android Tablet
50.2% Windows Phone
21.8% Blackberry
.....
whatithink: Wow for a supposedly dead app market, Windows Phone is almost as active as the leaders. Android has already reached parity with Apple, at least for phones. Windows Tablet is supposed to be based on Windows 8 which is actually desktop windows.

Business reaons:
38.4% Offer mobile access to online service
36.3% selling to consumers
33.2% mobile to be competitive
32.9% mobile version of desktop software

Biggest challenges
46% supporting multiple mobile platforms
43.3% cross-platform development
36.8% multiple platforms from common codebase
34.9% compelling user experience
33.3% testing quality assurance
whatithink: Common code is impossible across IOs which is in oddball objective C, Android which is Java, and Windows Phone which is silverlight /XAML, although there are supposedly ways to run C++ games on all of these platforms. You just have to recode all these from scratch and hope they stay in sync. Testing is also a pain since most automated tools are for internet or windows and Mac apps. Testing tools for mobile last time I checked was nearly nonexistent (hey if you know what they are, please leave in comments)

The Fool Picks Android, Apple and Windows as 1, 2 and 3

The market seems to be carved in two right now. Apple has the well-to-do and fashion-forward markets covered. Android is gunning for the masses. If Microsoft succeeds -- and that's a big "if" right now -- it remains to be seen if it will simply come at the techie expense of BlackBerry or if it will be truly successful and disrupt Apple and Google....Then again, why rain on the parade. This is the moment to shine for Android and iOS. Everyone else at this point is just jealous.

Fumble through your pockets until you find your smartphone. Is it an iPhone? Is it an Android? If not, you're probably cradling an endangered species.

Two kingdoms rule the world

Of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped during the first three months of the year, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, iPhones and Androids accounted for 82% of the market. ...Nokia-championed Symbian -- a former fave around the world -- has seen its market share slip from 26% a year ago to less than 7% today. RIM's BlackBerry has seen its share of smartphone shipments cut in half to 6.4%.

Apple #2 to Android .... even though Apple and Google combine for 82% of the market, there really is just one company that's a threat to run away with the market on its own. In terms solely of market penetration, Android is the Simon to Apple's Garfunkel. (Simon is the one who was a solo star....) Android accounted for 89.9 million -- or 59% -- of the 152.3 million smartphones that were shipped this past quarter. That's a 145% surge over the past year....The 35.1 million iPhones it sold ... represents an 89% improvement. ... the chin-scratching reality is that Apple's now a more distant silver medalist.

Windows Mobile Dark Horse #3?

Windows may be a forgotten sixth-place finisher with just 2.2% of the market, but no one should be surprised if Microsoft pole vaults its way to the bronze medal in a year. ...RIM is on a downward spiral. Linux may have its fringe fans, but there's no one financially backing the platform the way that Microsoft is invested in mobile.

More read stories SD Times:

Breaking down Android
Understanding the concepts around the software stack is a key first step for developers writing apps to the platform

I never heard of this from the Seattle press. They certainly never covered it as a Jihad incident, but DS heard about it, thank goodness some people figure out what's really going on. This is not just your average road rage incident. Terrorism wears the mask of all kinds of excuses of which jihad is only one, but make no mistake, this was a terrorist attack on US servicemen on US soil.

A Lynwood man tied by prosecutors to two Seattle terrorism suspects has admitted to attempting to run two Marines off Interst

Jailed since September, Michael D. McCright pleaded guilty to related charges last week and admitted to swerving at a government sedan carrying a uniformed Marine sergeant and another noncommissioned officer on July 12.

The FBI, the primary agency responsible for investigating terrorism in the U.S., is involved in this investigation for a reason.

A Lynwood man tied by prosecutors to two Seattle terrorism suspects has admitted to attempting to run two Marines off Interstate 5.

Jailed since September, Michael D. McCright pleaded guilty to related charges last week and admitted to swerving at a government sedan carrying a uniformed Marine sergeant and another noncommissioned officer on July 12.

McCright, who also goes by Mikhial Jihad, pleaded guilty Wednesday to reduced charges that ensured he will not face a life sentence under Washington’s “three-strikes” law targeting repeat violent criminals. Prosecutors have indicated the plan to request a nearly five-year prison term.

The Luftwaffe made many Great Airplanes like the FW-190 and Me262. And then there were flying flops like the Greif. Germany didn't make any really successful 4 engine bombers, and the Greif seems as result of Germany not liking 4 engined bombers.

The Condor was only marginally successful as a patrol bomber. By contrast, the UK produced the Lancaster and US produced the B-17 and B-24 before WWII, and developed the B-29 (copied by the Russians), and was working on the B-36 which set the example for every American heavy bomber from the B-52 to the B-70, B-1 and B-2.

Heinkel He 177 Bomber Was a ‘Flying Tinderbox’ During World War II

The Greif brought grief to the Luftwaffe

A Heinkel He 177 with its crew, Sept. 23, 1944. Heinkel finally gave up on the twinned DB 606 engines and redesigned the He 177B to have four conventional engines, with three prototypes flying in 1944, but by then it was too late, with bomber projects being cancelled and production concentrating on fighters. Bundesarchive photo

Adolf Hitler talked about the Heinkel He 177 Greif (Griffin) bomber in a meeting with his military staff on Feb. 1, 1943.

Speaking to Generaloberst (Colonel General) Hans Jeschonnek, chief of staff of the Luftwaffe as part of a rambling exchange about tanks and aircraft, the Führer said:

“I have to say again and again: I consider the whole 177 model a mistake because it was demonstrated already during the Great War that the problem of installing two engines on one shaft is extremely difficult to solve, and has led to constant difficulties.”

The He 177 may not have been Hitler’s biggest mistake – there is a long roster of candidates – but it was a mistake on the part of planemaker Ernst Heinkel’s design team and the Luftwaffe. It personifies the failure of the wartime German air arm to equip itself with long-range bombers.

It was classified as a heavy bomber. Its promised performance was better than any bomber in the world, carrying two tons of bombs to targets 1,400 miles inside enemy territory at 225 miles per hour. It would have enabled the Luftwaffe to reach Allied convoys in the Atlantic and Soviet installations beyond the Ural Mountains.

Instead of enhancing the offensive striking power of the Luftwaffe the He 177 became renowned for structural flaws, engine issues (including frequent engine fires) and an overall lack of reliability. The tail surfaces had to be redesigned and enlarged. There were constant problems not only with the coupled engines but with the complex, 14-foot, 8-inch, four-bladed propellers.

Strong Specifications

Developed beginning in 1939, the He 177 was designed to a German Air Ministry specification calling for a heavy bomber with an ordnance load of at least 4,400 pounds. While it was being prepared for its first flight, Generaloberst Ernst Udet, perhaps Germany’s most famous pilot, persuaded the Luftwaffe to decree that all combat aircraft should be capable of dive-bombing in the manner of the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. Jeschonnek continued this policy after Udet’s death in 1941. This impossible requirement for a heavy bomber dictated the twinned-engine configuration that was at the heart of the Greif’s multitude of troubles.

The He 177 looked like a twin-engined bomber. Its twinned engines were contained in each of two nacelles making it a four-engined bomber – sort of. The concept relied on the Daimler Benz DB 606 twin engine, which took two 1,350-horsepower DB 601A-1/B-1 inverted V inline engines and placed them side by side, with the inner cylinders almost vertical, producing an inverted W. The engines were prone to overheating and in-flight engine fires were common. Six of the original eight aircraft were lost, most due to engine fires, and many of the first 35 production aircraft (with Ernst Heinkel in disfavor, the planes were built mainly by Arado) also suffered the same fate.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Japan Famous for Kobe Beef Now Fukushima Tuna

analysis by Arthur Hu

Bad news. OMG the cesium has gotten into globetrotting bluefin tuna off California. So says Nicholas Fisher and Zofia Baumann at Stony Brook University, and Daniel Madigan at Stanford University, who co-wrote an article in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The fish which is threatened because they are prized by sushi chefs has swam across the ocean "faster than the wind" from where they grew up around the Phillipines and Japan to San Diego. There 15 were caught last summer, shortly after the triple-meltdown at Fukushima dumped massive amounts of radioactive steam and water into and over the ocean, where it got into the small fish that the tuna feed on. Short-lived cesium 137 was detected which only occurs shortly after bombs or nuclear reactors blow up, and the longer-lived cesium 134 was FIVE TIMES background levels from the old atomic "tests". Overall radiation was a whopping 3 percent elevated over the last batch they looked at.

Good news is that while the levels are pretty easy to detect, it's not nearly as worrisome as the other harmful stuff in the fish that's there all the time. The worst contaminant is methyl mercury, of which they are still waiting for results. The neurotoxin is a risk for developing fetuses, which is why US mothers are advised to limit tuna consumption. The fish are expected to lose 2 percent of their cesium each day by normal excretion, and most of what Americans eat comes from farms. Even at 5 bq, either caesium is 35 times less than the amount of radioactive potassium, which is naturally-occurring in the fish (and bananas, which is what people usually talk about "banana-equivalent dose" which is among the most radioactive things we eat normally) Radioactive potassium, along with polonium-210 are the two most common and largest radioactive compounds in our foods,

Speaking of Mercury and Industrial Disaster and Disease

Speaking of mercury, not many people have made the connection between the Fukushima disaster, and the "Four Big Pollution Disease" disasters of Japan which caused far more sickness and suffering than the nuclear incident where most of the deaths have been caused by the evacuation, and there have been few or no actual sickness that have been accurately documented as being caused by the radiation. Minamata disease was caused by building a big industrial plant which dumped wastes full of organic mercury compounds into the bay. People who ate the seafood which was locally harvested suffered by debilitating or fatal nerve problems or gave birth to babies with problems.

As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died)[1] and over 10,000 had received financial compensation from Chisso.[2] By 2004, Chisso Corporation had paid $86 million in compensation, and in the same year was ordered to clean up its contamination.[3] On March 29, 2010, a settlement was reached to compensate as-yet uncertified victims.[4]

Due to lawsuits, publicity, and other actions against the corporations responsible for the pollution, as well as the creation of theEnvironmental Agency in 1971, increased public awareness, and changes in the practices of the responsible companies, the incidence of these diseases declined after the 1970s.

Mercury Poisoning- The Minamata Story

May 29, 2012

News

9 new results for fukushima

Fukushima Radiation in Bluefin Tuna Expected to FallBusinessWeek
By Stuart Biggs on May 29, 2012 Radioactive material found in bluefin tuna that swam or fed in waters off the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is likely to decrease over time as the material dilutes in the ocean, scientists said. the bluefin’s metabolism, which should excrete cesium at a rate of about 2 percent per day, Bluefin can grow as long as 3 meters (9.8 feet), and have been proven to travel as far as 45,000 miles in 16 months, Cesium levels found in the post-Fukushima bluefin were less than the radioactive doses naturally occurring in the fish from isotopes including potassium 40See all stories on this topic »

Radioactive tuna travels from Japan to US faster than windChristian Science Monitor
Low levels of nuclear radiation from the Fukushima power plant have turned up in 15 bluefin tuna caught off San Diego. The fish is not harmful to humans, say researchers. By Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters / May 29, 2012 Workers harvest bluefin tuna from ...Because cesium 134 is generated only by human activities...any cesium 134 they found in tuna off California had to come from Fukushima.

There was about five times the background amount of cesium 137 in the bluefin tuna they tested, but that is still a tiny quantity, ... 5 becquerels instead of 1 becquerel. ..the way bluefin tuna migrate across the Pacific. Bluefin tuna spawn only in the western Pacific, off the coasts of Japan andthe Philippines. As young fish, some migrate east to the California coast, where upwelling ocean water brings lots of food for them and their prey. They get to these waters as juveniles or adolescents, and remain there, fattening up.

Nuclear Tuna Is Hot News, But Not Because It's Going To Make You SickNPR (blog)
Really, it seems just plain daffy to ignore a new study that says some Pacific bluefin tuna picked up traces of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year and brought it across the Pacific Ocean. And while, as a rule, ...Pacific bluefin tunaspawn off the coast of Japan. They are superb swimmers, so in a few months time, they make it across the Pacific to the coast of Mexico and Southern California to feed — and then get caught. They are also delicious,priceyand on the verge ofpopulation collapse, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.

Last summer, scientists bought 15 of these beautiful fish from the docks in San Diego to check them for contaminants.

Fukushima inquiry: I felt helpless, says former PMThe Guardian
Japan's prime minister at the height of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis has admitted he often felt "helpless" during the early days of the disaster, adding that the facility's triple meltdown had brought the country close to "national collapse".Naoto Kanurged Japan to abandonnuclear power, as the industry attempts to bring closed reactors back into operation.Kan, who resigned last September amid criticism of his handling of the crisis, has become one of Japan's most vocal opponents of nuclear power.See all stories on this topic »

Bluefin Tuna Radiation: Is There A Health Risk?Huffington Post
Scientists believe that the radiation -- in the form of the isotopes, caesium-137 and caesium-134 -- came from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in March of 2011. The rates of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were elevated about 3 percent, compared to previous ...The rates of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were elevated about 3 percent, compared to previous years in muscle samples taken from 15 two-year-old bluefin tuna caught off the coast of San Diego, Calif.

"That's definitely the mark of Fukushima,"..."Most likely, the [tuna] would have eaten some contaminated fish off the coast of Japan and then swam across the Pacific ocean."..In fact, according to the data, rates of caesium-137 and caesium-134 are 35 times less than the amount of radioactive potassium, which is naturally-occurring in the fish. Radioactive potassium, along with polonium-210 are the two most common and largest radioactive compounds in our foods, but even these give off far less radiation than other natural sources we are exposed to on an annual basis: radon, which occurs naturally in soil and rock, and cosmic rays....the fish that were used in this research were caught for sport, not for food.

Fukushima Nuclear Radiation Found in Pacific Bluefin Tuna - InhabitatBy Leon Kaye
. Low levels of radiation from last year’s Fukushima Diaichii disaster in Japan have been discovered in bluefin tuna swimming of the California coast. Scientists say the trace amounts are not necessarily harmful to people if consumed, and were far less than safety limits the Japanese government has established. But the radiation evident in the tuna caught in August 2011 surprised scientists and revealed just how quickly fish can carry these compounds faster than winds or water currents.INHABITAT

cryptogon.com » Tepco Admits Fukushima Disaster Released 2.5 ...By Kevin
The radiation released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost 2-1/2 times the amount first estimated by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday. Tokyo Electric ...

Tokyo Electric Power said its own analysis conducted over the past year put the amount of radiation released in the first three weeks of the accident at about one-sixth the radiation released during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

estimated meltdowns at three Fukushima reactors released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March.